page_title: Adaptation
section_title: Peacocks
hierarchical_section_title: Adaptation / Functions of adaptations / Peacocks
caption_attribution_description: Čeština: Páv korunkatý (Pavo cristatus), ukazující svůj chvost v ZOO v Duisburgu. Deutsch: Blauer Pfau (Pavo cristatus), radschlagendes Männchen im Duisburger Zoo. English: Peacock (Pavo cristatus), displaying his tail, Duisburg Zoo. Español: Un pavo real (Pavo cristatus) con la cola desplegada, en el zoo de Duisburgo. Français&#160;: Paon (Pavo cristatus) faisant la roue. Zoo de Duisburg. हिन्दी: प्रमुख चित्र अप्रैल २००९
context_page_description: Adaptation is the evolutionary process where an organism becomes better suited to its habitat. This process takes place over many generations. It is one of the basic phenomena of biology.
  When people speak about adaptation, they often mean a 'feature' which helps an animal or plant survive. An example is the adaptation of horses' teeth to grinding grass. Grass is their usual food; it wears the teeth down, but horses' teeth continue to grow during life. Horses also have adapted to run fast, which helps them to escape their predators, such as lions. These features are the product of the process of adaptation.
  The illustration of bird beaks shows an obvious sign of their different ways of life. However, eating a different food also means having a different digestive system, gut, claws, wings and above all, different inherited behaviour. For the major adaptations, what changes is not a single trait, but a whole group of features.
  Adaptation occurs because the better adapted animals are the most likely to survive, and to reproduce successfully. This process is known as natural selection; it is the basic cause of evolutionary change.
context_section_description: Camouflage to avoid detection is destroyed when vivid colours are displayed at mating time. Here the risk to life is counterbalanced by the need for reproduction. The peacock's ornamental train (grown anew in time for each mating season) is a famous adaptation. It must reduce his maneuverability and flight, and is hugely conspicuous; also, its growth costs food resources.
  Darwin's explanation of its advantage was in terms of sexual selection: "it depends on the advantage which certain individuals have over other individuals of the same sex and species, in relation to reproduction". The kind of sexual selection represented by the peacock is called 'mate choice', meaning the process selects the more fit over the less fit, and so has survival value. In practice, the blue peafowl Pavo cristatus is a pretty successful species, with a big natural range in India, so the overall outcome of their mating system is quite viable.
caption: An Indian Peacock's train
  in full display
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